All posts tagged The Queen Mary

Today my friend Jillian Chantal is visiting and talking about her latest release, The Gambler’s Daughter.

Thanks to Darlene for inviting me back yet again over to hang out at your blog and chat about my newest release, The Gambler’s Daughter. It’s the third book in a trilogy involving the same family and their voyages on the Queen Mary ocean liner. All three stories are stand alone books and there’s no need to have read them other ones to enjoy this one. They all have mystery and murder and romance- three of my favorite kinds of stories in one.

I’m fascinated by ghost stories and this book has spirits galore in it and they even take part in solving some of the mysteries going on during the voyage. The heroine has the ability to see dead people (and no, it’s not another Bruce Willis movie) and she uses that gift in trying to solve the crimes onboard the Queen Mary on its last ocean voyage before becoming a floating hotel in Long Beach, California.

Bernadette McSwain’s family has a strong connection to the Queen Mary ocean liner. They’re invited to sail on the Queen’s final voyage to her new home in Long Beach, California in 1967. Bernadette and her cousin, Michel are writing a book on the spirits who haunt the mighty ship. Bernadette’s psychic abilities help in their research. They meet a young Spanish grandee, Lazarus Garcia, who’s on the ship as a chef to learn to run his own first class restaurant. He’s surrounded by anguished spirits whom Bernadette can see. When passengers start to die in violent ways, Bernadette suspects Lazarus of the crimes. This suspicion causes a rift between the cousins as Michel has befriended the Spaniard. As the voyage continues and Lazarus tries to charm her, Bernadette must make a decision about him or face losing her cousin, both literally and figuratively.

Excerpt:

Bernadette stomped down the corridor with Michel hot on her heels. “Wait up, Detta. He’s just some hired hand. Don’t let him ruin our walk around the ship. We need to cover some more ground for you to get a feel for the energy of the place. It’s a big ship and soon there’ll be a lot of people onboard. We’re lucky they let us on early and have given us free rein.”

She kept walking, faster and faster.

Michel grabbed her upper arm. “Stop. Stop and tell me what the heck is wrong with you. You’re walking so fast, it’s like some demon is on your tail.”

She turned toward him. “That man is evil. He’s surrounded by spirits. All kinds of spirits. I’ve never seen anything like it. They’re all trying to get his attention and he’s oblivious. It terrifies me.”

“Come over here and sit down a minute. Your face is red and you look like you’re going to explode.” Michel pointed toward the alcove near the elevators.

She followed him over to the sofa and chairs. They sat on a green velvet sofa, side by side. Michel took her by the hand. “Tell me exactly what you saw.”

“When I first opened the door, I didn’t see anything except the man’s head, but once he stood all the way up, I could see wisps floating around him. It was almost like a fog. Then it seemed to lift and filter out into separate shapes. None of them tried to communicate with me, but they were clearly trying to communicate with him.”

“What did they look like?”

“It’s hard to describe. They were very nebulous and unformed. They looked like they were in anguish and all I could focus on was their faces. It was all I could do to talk to the insufferable, arrogant–”

“It’s all right. Chances are, you won’t run into him again. He’s a kitchen worker and you’re a first class passenger. It’ll be rare that you’re even in the same area of the ship.”

“Good. I don’t want to see him again.” She reached out and grabbed Michel’s hand. She squeezed it. “It made my heart ache to see all those spirits. Do you think he could’ve killed those people?”

“I have no idea.” Michel reared back. “I just met the man and only spoke a couple of words to him. I can’t make any judgment about him based on that.”

“I sure can.” She let go of Michel’s hand and stood. “Come on, then, we have a vessel to inspect.”